[TSM_Pikachu]

Hey All! So I searched and found some threads of people asking about the Ambient lighting in our Odyssey (05-10) but no one really ventured in to change it. If someone did then nothing was posted that I could find so hopefully this can help you all in case you wanted to upgrade or just change the color of the ambient light.
Some people posted that the 05-07 Odysseys had a Amber LED and the 08+ had a blue LED in them and the only way they saw to change the color was to buy a whole unit at some ridiculous price of like $200+.
This thread will help you do it for about ..... $1-2? hahahaha

I have a 06 EXL so this applies to that model and up, not sure if it applies to the 99-04 models.

Tools needed:

- Solder iron
- 2mm center punch or anything 2mm in diameter that has a flat tip
- 5mm LED (I have 12v LED's in white or blue for my last car which was an Accord and used one of these. hahah)
- Wire cutter with a thin nose
- Nail clipper
- Wire pick you could probably use a similar device about 1-2mm in diameter, as long as it can pull on a leg of a LED
- Panel poppers also known as non marking pry bar, nylon pry bar set (yellow plastic sticks with flat ends)
- Sharp scissors


1. First step is expose the LED and to do that we need to pop the cover off of the homelink. To do that without creating scratches, dings or other post nuclear mayhem please use a panel popper otherwise known as a non marking pry bar. You can find at harbourfreight, a full set will run about $6.00 if you don't have them already.
You take such tool, wedge it in position as shown and then pry towards the back of the van, that is, the handle you hold on to, should be pulled towards the rear of the van. It will create a small pop type of feel and the edge should come down, Put the popper on the front side and push towards windshield. Use gentle but firm force

2. You then find a big black box looking thing like below, see the black hooks in the same pry points as the homelink cover? Use gentle force again and pop those hooks out and this black box will come down. There is nothing in it and nothing clipped to it so if it happens to free fall, dont worry.

3.

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

3. Next up you'll have the exposed PCB and you'll see the stock LED is encased in a standard bulb holder. Gently pull the PCB down at little and you can then unlock the bulb holder from the PCB and pull out. DONT pull the PCB down too far or too hard, there are six pins on the pass side of this board and i'm not sure what will happen if you break those by pulling too hard.
To help, I used a 90 degree plier, Just look at the bulb holder to find out which way to unlock it. I think it was clockwise to unlock and counterclockwise to lock it back in place.

4. You now should have this in your hand(s) and this is the little bugger we are going to modify. This holder is two pieces. The upper and lower section. The upper section is where my index finger is and it holds the LED centered in the holder base which is in my thumb and middle finger.
The LED is held in place by tension. From this position you need to rotate it a bit to expose the LED legs which will peek through a opening between upper and lower section. The idea here is to pry the LED legs out towards you a bit to get them far enough out so you can clip them with the nail clipper or a small nose wire cutter. We need to cut the legs completely so that we can pull off the Actual LED from the base and then pop the legs out through the top as well

5. This should now be what is in your hands if you did it right, the base holder will also be undamaged. You can now pinch the two ends together a bit and slide it out of that black holder.
You then wanted to slide the new LED into place.....orientation does not matter at this time for the LED pins
NOTE: BEFORE You slide the new LED in place, take the nail clipper and cut the little nubs around the base of the new LED. It's a lip thing that goes around the base of the new LED. If you don't you'll see the fitment problem

6. You now have the base here as shown below with the bulb holder tabs in it. Flip it over and look close, you'll see the OEM LED legs attached to the tabs. They are seemingly soldered there so now take your 2mm screwdriver tip or 2mm punch and push upwards to pop these tabs out of the top. Then use the nail clipper to snip the legs off from the tab, do it from the sides, with any luck it'll break the solder joint cleanly like mine

7. Once you snip or break those legs off the holder tabs, leave it alone for now. Trim and fit the new LED and you should end up with something like this below

8. Next up, take the locking tabs that go into the bulb holder, you know the one we clipped the legs off of from. Use a small flat head and line up the tab in the bulb holder, push down gently but firmly and the tab should slide into place with a really light click feel

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

9. Once the tabs are in place, slide the new LED down into place. Remember the + sign on the back of the base? Look at that now, put the LONGER leg of the LED on that side. The legs will slide down easily into place, there is a small slot cut by Honda in the base, so if you have trouble pushing the legs through....the tabs still have solder on them or you arent lining up correctly. You then end up with the pic below

10 Then you bend the legs outward and "up" towards the tip of the LED and snip as close as you can to the metal locking tab in the bolt holder. Like below, Then get your solder iron, and lay a small drop of solder (really small) to bind the LED leg to the tab. You should then have something like the pic below

11. You're pretty much done, reinstall to Homelink PCB and turn on parking lights to test. If you did it right then it'll light up like mine did as below, if it does, then reassemble. NOTE: For White LED DO NOT MODIFY THE BLACK bracket or open up the hole that light shines through......it might be really annoying if you do that hahaha

12. I modified the ISO on my camera to make sure you see the blatant difference with the upgraded LED. As shown below...NOTE; The light is not blinding from driver seat and almost unnoticeable at night. It does illuminate the front cupholders very well and if you have it folded down and put away, the light simply hits the carpet and does not create any issues or bother, at least to me

 

[Cobster]

So thats whats thats called? I was driving the other night and notice a little spot light in the center area up front coming from somewhere. I think my gen 2 insight has a blue one coming from the bottom of the hvac controls and illuminates the center cup holders.

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

So thats whats thats called? I was driving the other night and notice a little spot light in the center area up front coming from somewhere. I think my gen 2 insight has a blue one coming from the bottom of the hvac controls and illuminates the center cup holders.

Yes haha
I also carry blue LED's if you want a blue one

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

Awesome, images arent showing =\

 

[MrRangerZr1]

Awesome, images arent showing =\

They are

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

They are

oh haha, they dont show for me =\
Oh well, i transferred some images to the FB page thats why lol

 

[4x4rock]

I was always wondering what that light light does. Too dim for anything useful.

 

[TSM_Pikachu]

I was always wondering what that light light does. Too dim for anything useful.

Exactly why I changed it haha, It is brighter than the stock right now, however if i trim the black surround piece a bit, it'll get even brighter.